294 THE STONES OF VENICE

with the strength of the round one, and still to build in brick, ended at first in conditions such as that represented at a, Fig. 28, which is a window in the Calle del Pistor, close to the church of the Apostoli, a very interesting and perfect example. Here, observe, the poor round arch is still kept to do all the hard work, and the fantastic ogee takes its pleasure above in the form of a moulding merely, a chain of bricks cast to the required curve. And this condition, translated into stone-work, becomes a window of the second order (b, Fig. 28, or 2 in Plate 14): a form perfectly strong and serviceable, and of immense importance in the transitional architecture of Venice.

§ 29. At b, Fig. 28 above, is given one of the earliest and simplest occurrences of the second order window (in a double group, exactly like the brick transitional form a), from a most important fragment of a defaced house in the Salizzada San Lio, close to the Merceria. It is associated with a fine pointed brick arch, indisputably of contemporary work, towards the close of the thirteenth century, and it is shown to be later than the previous example, a, by the greater development of its mouldings. The archivolt profile, indeed, is the simpler of the two, not having the sub-arch; as in the brick example; but the other mouldings are far more developed. Fig. 29 shows at 1 the arch profiles, at 2

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